They talked all the way to her apartment, but Lizabeth stopped when she got to the landing with her key hovering near the lock. "We don't want a repeat of last night."
William remarked, "I think it ended on a positive note."
"I don't want to have to chase Kitty for a half-hour first. Can you make sure to block the bottom of the door?" He nodded, and she unlocked the door. The cat wasn't right there with her nose stuck at the entrance, attempting to sneak out. Lizabeth quickly closed the door behind them. As soon as the latch clicked in place, their arms slipped around each other, their lips finding each other's.
William pulled back, and ran his hands over her hair and down her cheek, "I fear you will be sore by the time I leave."
Her cheek rose beneath his hand as she smiled. "I am a little," she whispered. "This is all new and exciting and a little awkward."
She froze, looking at him. "Is that a vacuum cleaner?" He nodded as their hands fell. "It's too loud to be my neighbor. And where is the cat?"
"I wonder too," William agreed.
Lizabeth walked down the hall; the sounds of the vacuum cleaner got louder. She stopped to stare into her spare bedroom. Her mother was vacuuming the floor with an intense look on her face. The bed had been stripped; all the sheets were piled on top. Lizabeth blinked. There were too many in the pile. She suspected that the bed in her own room had been stripped as well.
Then she heard the unmistakable sound of the cat howling at the top of her lungs.
"Mother!" she cried. Mrs. Bennet jumped and turned around.
"Lizabeth! Where have you been?" Dawn cried in return as she turned off the vacuum cleaner. "Your house is a pigsty: you are a little piggy!"
"What are you doing here? This is not your house!" she yelled in return.
"You were so ungrateful on the phone this morning that I had to come and give you a piece of my mind—but you weren't here! So I had to go to Ned's to get the spare key. But he and Chrissie were gone because Scott was playing baseball. Really, you wretched child, can you think of no one but yourself? All the driving I've had to do today!" Water leaked from her eyes, but Lizabeth hesitated to consider them tears.
"Where's the cat?" Lizabeth ducked back into the hallway and moved quickly to her room. A scan around the principal parts didn't reveal the cat. But there was no mistaking the wailing coming from inside the closet. Delicately, Lizabeth opened the door, expecting the cat to zip out, but to her horror, she found Kitty encased in a plastic pet carrier pushed in the far back corner of her walk-in closet. She leaned over, opened the carrier door, and the cat zoomed out, heading for the bed. Lizabeth followed and ducked down to gaze at her terrified cat under the bed. Fury enveloped her. She stood up to find William beside her.
Dawn stood in the bedroom doorway. "Who is that?" she asked, pointing at William.
"How dare you traumatize my cat! Don't you realize she's been through too much already—she was locked in a deposit bin overnight! She hates confined spaces!" Lizabeth shouted.
"Do you realize that I had to drive myself here today? It's the Final Four! Both Gonzaga and Oregon are playing—and your father refused to drive me—he's just as ungrateful as you. What a terrible day I've had!" Dawn moaned in return.
"I don't care about your day. This is my house. Where's the key?" Lizabeth held out her hand.
Dawn looked taken aback. "I…I don't know what I did with it." She jutted her chin out before looking to the side.
"Mom, give me the spare key, and then kindly leave my house," she demanded.
"You wouldn't dare!" shouted her mother.
"The key!" Lizabeth shook the hand in front of her. "Give me the damn key."
"But I bought food to make you din-din. I was going to cook for you, and we could spend time together," Mrs. Bennet explained.
Lizabeth dropped her arm but took a step closer. "Your allergies wouldn't let you stay long. What were you going to do about that?" Lizabeth's eyes narrowed.
"Take the cat to the pound," Dawn admitted. "I was cleaning and dusting to get rid of the cat hair."
"Out!" Lizabeth shouted, moving forward to stand right in front of her mother. "Out! Get out of my house!" She pointed past her mother's shoulder down the hall.
Her mother flinched when Lizabeth's arm came up, and a mixture of emotions crossed her face. Tears leaked from her eyes. Lizabeth thought these tears were honest and not crocodile. "But I'm your mother!"
"Who needs a life besides being interfering and infuriating. Please leave my house and leave the spare key."
"But Lizabeth, baby," pleaded her mother.
"I've had enough of you not respecting me and my rights and my boundaries!" She pushed past her mother to storm down the hallway. Her mother's things were hung over a chair in the kitchen, and she first dug her hands through jacket pockets before boldly opening Dawn's purse. The red lanyard with her spare key lay on top, and she shoved it into her pocket.
"Lizabeth!" scolded her mother. Her daughter picked up the purse and the jacket and turned to shove them into Mrs. Bennet's hands who instinctively clasped them to her bosom. Lizabeth walked to the front door and stood with her hand on the doorknob. Dawn glared at her daughter with a furtiveness which suggested that underneath she was terrified about this change to her plans.
"You can't ask your mother to leave. It's rude," Mrs. Bennet cried with those fake or real tears on her cheeks. "How can you do this to me?"
"How can you do this to your daughter?" Lizabeth asserted.
"Just see if I ever speak to you again!" Mrs. Bennet declared marching across the room towards the door. Her daughter opened it for her; Dawn walked through and disappeared.
She closed the door, stumbled and turned to see William standing at the end of the hallway, having watched this mother/daughter drama play out. Lizabeth was such a whirlwind of emotions that she couldn't, just then, add in how she felt about him (or how she also felt about his witnessing that scene). She looked away. Moments later, she found a hand take hers to guide her to the couch before he went to peek at the refrigerator.
She didn't cry, though she sat rubbing her chin repeatedly as the scene played over and over in her mind. It made her stomach knot up tight. Lizabeth was sure that she wouldn't be able to eat anything and didn't want to go out to dinner anymore. She just wanted to stay home, wear pajamas, and keep an eye on Kitty.
William was kneeling before her. "Why don't you go take a long shower?"
Her heavy, sad eyes looked into his brown ones which looked kindly back at her. "Okay, but…"
"Don't worry about dinner; I have it all arranged." His eyes crinkled up. She put a hand out to touch his hair; not remembering doing that before. "Off you go." He stood up, having taken hold of her hands and hauled her to her feet.
She checked on Kitty, who remained huddled under the bed and refused to come out, so Lizabeth got into the shower. Dinner was waiting for her when she came back wearing a loose-fitting dress topped with a well-worn sweater.
"What about our reservations?" Lizabeth asked as William indicated a place at the small dining table.
"I canceled and decided to cook instead. Courtesy of your mother—we have ingredients." He smiled briefly as though he wasn't certain about bringing up the topic of Mrs. Bennet's home invasion.
"I wonder what she intended to make," Lizabeth asked.
"No idea, and I have to say it was difficult navigating your kitchen, what with the one knife and four spices. I had to go knock on your neighbor's door to borrow some!" He turned back to the stove to start plating the food.
"You borrowed food?" she cried.
"No, just a few spices. Your mother bought beef and asparagus, and I discovered that you had some rice, so I made stir-fry. But you don't have soy sauce!" He glared at her in mock surprise. "Mrs. Annesley downstairs was quite happy to give me some, and some powdered ginger."
"I've never met any of my neighbors!" Lizabeth blushed.
"Now you have an in; you'll have to go thank her," he remarked.
The food was delicious. They didn't avoid the subject of her mother—Lizabeth was brave and tackled it (having broken down and cried in the shower). William spoke more about his mother. She had cared for him as most mothers did. Lizabeth wondered aloud that she had such an impossible one.
"You were brave today," he said. "You're coming into your own." They washed up then watched a movie, though not genuinely paying attention; more often, other subjects came up.
"I feel like I'm so small and innocent," she stopped. "Innocent meaning inexperienced. I knew I was coddled, and I liked being privileged; I'll admit that. But I'm slowly realizing that I like seeking knowledge and experience as a way of learning about the world. But my launching out on my own has been stunted, hasn't it? Twenty-five and just getting on my feet."
"I think you've done well with the hand you've been dealt," said William.
"But I lean on people so much," she mused. Currently, she was lying snuggled up against him under a blanket.
"Life is far better when you have people to lean on." His arm wrapped around her shoulder, and he pulled her onto his lap. "Why don't we turn off what we're not watching and go to bed?" He kissed a cheek, her chin, and nibbled down her neck.
"I need to put sheets back on the bed," Lizabeth sighed as her thoughts drifted back, yet again to the scene with her mother.
William was determined to distract her. "Come, let's change the sheets and then mess them up." He gathered her up into his arms and surprised Lizabeth by standing up with her still nestled against his chest. He carried her to the room and deposited her on the bed, with both of them laughing the entire length of the hallway. There was a short wrestling match before Lizabeth got up to find her spare set of sheets, and the bed was made. Then William proved himself a man of his word as they messed them up again in short order.
No phone call woke them up the next morning. They slept late, having exhausted themselves the night before (though the encounter with Mrs. Bennet had been draining and added to Lizabeth's exhaustion). William questioned whether she wasn't truly sore, and she had to admit that she was. There was an aching down there, a memory of their activity, but her body seemed ready to make love all over again that morning. They cuddled for a while, a gentleness that Lizabeth appreciated before she decided to rise and shower. Then they went to the hotel to have brunch for want of another choice.
"William!" called a voice, and the two turned to see Charles Lee sitting with Jane Sweet at a two-seater table. The pair walked over. "Lizabeth!" Charles called, his voice over-cheerful. She looked at Jane, who was smiling, but also seemed upset. Her friend had a fork in her hand, which she flipped before flipping it over again methodically as she listened to the others.
"What are you doing up here?" William asked as he shook hands with Charles.
"Seeing Jane," the actor answered, turning to beam his bright white teeth at Jane. She answered him with an equally bright grin.
"Don't you have that commercial to shoot tomorrow?" William asked.
"Yes. I'll leave with sufficient time to make it home." Charles looked from his friend to Lizabeth. "Seems you're up here for the same reason?" His eyebrows shot up.
"My aunt has more business matters that she wants me to handle, same as back in February," William explained. Charles squinted as though attempting to ascertain the truth behind that claim. Wrinkles appeared on his forehead as though he didn't believe it (or at least that it was the only reason that William Darcy was in Merton).
Lizabeth looked at Jane, who continued her methodical fork turning. "How are you doing?"
"Been a little crazier here, the bar gets rowdy when there are sports games are on," she answered.
"I know, the Final Four games were yesterday. But now it's down to two. But they won't play the last game until tomorrow night. I imagine it will be crazy here again?" Lizabeth asked, and Jane nodded. The two men looked at her with odd expressions. "My dad loves sports; I can't help noting the schedule even if I have moved out of the house."
"Did you want to sit with us?" Charles asked.
"You look like you're done, and we've not even gone through the lines yet," said William.
"Besides, there's no room," Lizabeth added. She wanted more time with William while she had it, though felt guilty that something was going on with Jane. She made a note to check in with her friend. They parted ways, filled plates with food, and found a table.
"Is something going on there?" she eventually asked, unable to get over the nervousness she sensed emanating from Jane.
"I noticed there was some tension," William agreed. "But I don't know of any issues. Charles and I haven't seen each other lately. He doesn't always work for me and does have other gigs. But I understand that he's been coming up here a lot, while Jane never goes down to see him. Maybe that's the issue?"
"Maybe." Lizabeth nibbled more while she considered the pair's situation. "I guess long-distance relationships have extra challenges, don't they?" She looked across the table at her companion. "What's going on with us?"
"I'd like to keep seeing you," he said, putting his utensils down. "Being apart can make it difficult, yes. But not impossible. Maybe that will work in our favor, somehow."
"How?" she asked.
"I'm not exactly sure, but I usually work eighty hours a week, so I'm not free most nights. I don't think I am date material, and maybe you have expectations that we should spend a lot more time together since you're…"
"…so inexperienced," she answered. "I'm so innocent. You're probably right." Suddenly it was Lizabeth who was twirling her fork. "Not that I like that. Not being able to see you midweek." She gave William a half-smile.
"I'm sure that weekends with you will make my weekdays much more productive." He snorted. "Or drag on."
"Hey, you two." They turned to see Ryan guiding his wheelchair towards them with a plate of food on his lap.
"Twice in one weekend has to be a record," William remarked.
"We used to see much more of each other once upon a time," Ryan quipped.
"You were overseas for many years, far too long."
"Far too far," Ryan agreed. He wheeled up to their table and put his plate down. "So you two seeing each other? This is the second time I've seen you together in two days." Ryan's eyes flitted from his cousin to Lizabeth's. She felt undressed, somehow, as he stared at her while he waited for an answer.
"Yes," she answered. "I ran into William when I went to Los Angeles for a trip."
"A trip." Ryan seemed to repeat everything. "I haven't been on a trip away from Merton for a long time."
"I've invited you down any number of times," William pointed out.
"Did you come up to see Lizabeth? Anne said you're here dealing with Catherine's bullshit."
"Both," William admitted as his brows came together.
"You should have gone out with me, Lizabeth." Ryan quipped. His eyes continued to stare into hers. She felt them bore into her as emotion took hold of him; she couldn't account for his anger, however. She looked away, breaking the gaze, to stare at William. He was staring in confusion at his cousin.
"I didn't know I had competition from you," said William. His eyes flickered around his cousin's face. Ryan appeared to be working on getting himself under control, though he didn't stop staring at Lizabeth.
"Asked her out ages ago. Turned me down," Ryan commented.
"I had a boyfriend at the time," she pointed out.
"I think we can all agree that Edgar Stone is an…idiot." Ryan flourished his hand on the last word. "Well, I know when I'm not wanted. I'll find a different seat." He grabbed his plate, placed it on his lap, spun his chair around, and left.
Lizabeth looked at William for help. "I don't know," he began. "I don't know what's up with Ryan or why he was acting like that. I've never seen him behave like that. I can assume he's jealous, but…" William's voice trailed off. "I can't explain it."
"He's a little aggressive," she asserted. "But how can he be jealous?"
"Ryan's not had many breaks in life," William faltered then gave her a small smile. "I don't think this is the best place to talk." They finished the remaining bites of food and left.
A/N: This chapter is so short that I'm putting it up now. Will post Chapter 22 on Saturday, then on Monday we will start Volume 3 and the rollercoaster ride to the finish. I estimate we will be done May 1st.
